Star Trek chronicles the 23rd century adventures of the U.S.S. Enterprise, one of twelve state-of-the-art starships representing Starfleet, the exploration branch of the United Federation of Planets, an alliance of alien races including Earth, Vulcan, Tellar, and Andor. Captain James T. Kirk, the youngest starship captain in the Fleet, commands the Enterprise with a combination of brashness, authority, and imagination. The half-Vulcan/half-human Mr. Spock serves as his extremely logical and efficient First Officer and Science Officer. The ship's chief medical officer is Dr. Leonard McCoy, who has supreme medical authority on the ship and tends to the physical and mental needs of the Enterprise's crew of approximately 430.

Other ranking crew members include: Montgomery Scott, a man dedicated to his ship engines but not adverse to a bit of shore leave; Hikaru Sulu, helmsman and a man of many hobbies ranging from botany to fencing, Nyota Uhura, the extremely competent head of Communications, and Pavel Chekov, brash young navigator with a fierce pride in his native Russia.

Star Trek was created by producer Gene Roddenberry, who sold the series as a "Wagon Train to the Stars" to the executives at NBC, even though the final result bore very little resemblance to the initial sales pitch. Roddenberry first produced the 1964 pilot "The Cage," featuring Jeffrey Hunter as Enterprise captain Christopher Pike (early drafts listed him as Captain Spring and Winter). When NBC rejected that pilot, Roddenberry took the extraordinary step of producing a second pilot, "Where No Man Has Gone Before," recasting William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk. NBC was impressed and bought the series.

The series premiered on NBC on Thursday, September 8, 1966 in the 8:30-9:30 PM time slot with the episode "The Man Trap." Both of the pilots were originally aired, although "The Cage" was restructured as a flashback episode of sorts in the two-parter "The Menagerie." The show never received high ratings but gathered a small but devoted fan following. NBC considered canceling the series in its second year but a letter-writing campaign purportedly saved it. However, NBC moved the series to a later Friday night time slot and Roddenberry left his position as executive producer in protest. Since then Star Trek has run almost continuously in syndication and has inspired an animated series, six feature films, and four additional spin-off television shows as of 2012. The show has spawned a huge amount of merchandise, including novels, comic books, memorabilia, and games. Fans have created vast amount of fan fiction and even low-budget web episodes, some involving original creators. Despite its short network run, Star Trek has become one of the most successful shows in television history.

The Remastering Project

In late 2006, CBS Television began an effort to remaster the episodes of the original series for syndication. The project will require approximately two years to complete (there are 79 original series episodes and they debut at the rate of approximately one per week, with pauses from time to time); the project will therefore likely lead into the next Star Trek film in 2008.

The CBS team has carefully cleaned each episode to restore the original colors, remove dust hairs and other debris from the master images and remaster the sound. Space vessels, including the Enterprise, have been updated with CGI effects. Planets (for orbital scenes) have been replaced by nice looking CGI effects. Additional effects have been added here and there; some of these are discussed in the entries for individual episodes.

The Enterprise speeds to help a science party on Camus II after receiving their distress call. Upon arriving at Camus II, the Enterprise's landing party finds all but two of the science party dead. One of the two, Dr. Janice Lester, is a former love of Kirk's from his days at the Starfleet Academy. When Kirk sits with her, Janice uses an alien device to switch minds with Kirk, leaving him in a woman's body while she takes command of the Enterprise.

1x0: The Cage (Pilot) recap: The Enterprise makes contact with a radio wave, an old-style distress signal that was designed to cause ship's interference. They identify its source as the S.S. Columbia, a survey expedition that disappeared in the vicinity of the Talos star system 18 years ago. They are eighteen light years from Talos, and Spock confirms the system has never been explored. The fourth planet has a Class M atmosphere. Captain Christopher Pike says that there's no reason to go if there are any indication of survivors, and has the helmsman set course for the Vega Colonies to tend to their sick and injured... read more.

3x24: Turnabout Intruder recap: The Enterprise arrives at Camus II in response to a distress call from a research team led by Dr. Janice Lester. Kirk, Spock and McCoy beam down and find Lester and the expedition’s doctor, Arthur Coleman. Lester is suffering from what appears to be radiation exposure. Kirk knows her from their time together at Starfleet Academy, and offers to stay with her to calm her down while the others go to examine the other members of the team. Once they’re gone, Lester seemingly recovers consciousness and talks about how she felt betrayed by him, and that there was no place for women among starship captains. Unwilling to get into their old differences, Kirk goes over to a nearby wall with alien mechanisms, and Lester triggers a remote paralyzing him. She then gets up and stands next to him and activates the alien device. A glow of energy surrounds them and each one’s mental essence is transferred into the others’ body... read more.

3x23: All Our Yesterdays recap: The Enterprise enters the Beta Niobe star system. The sun is about to go nova, and the civilization on its one inhabited planet, Sarpeidon, has disappeared without a trace. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy beam down to a building with the only active power source and discover it's a library with data storage discs. An elderly man, Mr. Atoz, comes in and introduces himself as the librarian. He mistakes them for natives and says that they've just barely come in time. He offers them the resources of the library to make their "choice," assuming they know what he's talking about. They leave him behind and walk toward some shelves… and he appears again in front of them. When they ask him about recent history, he directs them to the reference deck, and yet another Atoz. This one says that he is the real Atoz and the others are replicas, and that the landing party should join the rest of Sarpeidon's population and make their escape so that he can join his wife and children and avoid the upcoming nova... read more.

3x22: The Savage Curtain recap: The Enterprise is sent to investigate the planet Excalbia, a planet with a surface of molten lava and an unbreathable atmosphere. Spock detects traces of carbon-based life forms and they pick up advanced power readings but no one responds to their hails. As Kirk prepares to order the Enterprise to its next assignment, someone on the planet scans them. After a few moments, a figure appears on the view screen: 19th century U.S. President Abraham Lincoln... read more.

3x21: The Cloud Minders recap: Due to an outbreak of botanical plague on Merak II, the Enterprise travels to the planet Ardana. As a Federation member, Ardana is the only source of zenite, which is necessary to cure the plague. Upon arrival they are directed to the cloud city of Stratos and the planet's government. Kirk, puzzled, takes Spock and beams down directly to the mines to get the zenite, tendering his apologizes to Stratos. Upon arrival, Kirk and Spock find no trace of the zenite consignment or the miners. They go to the mine entrance but several miners take them prisoner... read more.